What good alternatives to LEGO are there?
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
Don't have an answer for you unfortunately, but do you care to share more of this story about Lego burning Bionicle fans?
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
buy a 3d printer and print your own
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
What did Lego do this time?
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Don't have an answer for you unfortunately, but do you care to share more of this story about Lego burning Bionicle fans?
There was a big ambitious project called "Masks of Power" which was going to be a full 3D action platformer. It looked truly amazing for a fan project, certainly better than anything LEGO has done for Bionicle.
The team had been working on the project for eight years. In that time they've had multiple talks with officials from LEGO, who seemed to be fine with it (especially since Bionicle has been dead for 10 years). LEGO featured the project on their official podcast, and even allowed for a Steam release, so long as it remained free and none profit.
We were going to get the first demo of that game a few months from now. But two weeks ago LEGO sent a cease and desist, and the project is dead.
There are several large, ambitious projects in the works by Bionicle fans, a number of them animation projects, one of which I'm part of as 3D artist... But now with Team Kanohi and their game project lynched, we're all feeling like there's a sword hanging over our heads.
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buy a 3d printer and print your own
Can't afford it (or one that would make anything in the quality I'm after) and don't have space for one.
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What did Lego do this time?
I posted the story to someone else on the comments.
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Can't afford it (or one that would make anything in the quality I'm after) and don't have space for one.
They're really not that expensive anymore, year by year they're less enthusiast-only and more general consumer friendly.
Bambu A1 or A1 Mini can comfortably print it with the desired quality.
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
Would you be interested in a large collection of vintage bionicles?
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
While not building bricks, you may want to look into Gunpla and/or 30 Minutes MIssions. 30MM in particular is a line designed to mix parts from different kits, and as a Lego and Gunpla fan, certainly scratches that itch like Bionicle did.
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Would you be interested in a large collection of vintage bionicles?
That depends on a number of factors, and largely comes down to price. I'm not particularly rich by any stretch of the imagination.
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That depends on a number of factors, and largely comes down to price. I'm not particularly rich by any stretch of the imagination.
I’m packing up to move soon, so I will try and get everything together and take some pics.
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There was a big ambitious project called "Masks of Power" which was going to be a full 3D action platformer. It looked truly amazing for a fan project, certainly better than anything LEGO has done for Bionicle.
The team had been working on the project for eight years. In that time they've had multiple talks with officials from LEGO, who seemed to be fine with it (especially since Bionicle has been dead for 10 years). LEGO featured the project on their official podcast, and even allowed for a Steam release, so long as it remained free and none profit.
We were going to get the first demo of that game a few months from now. But two weeks ago LEGO sent a cease and desist, and the project is dead.
There are several large, ambitious projects in the works by Bionicle fans, a number of them animation projects, one of which I'm part of as 3D artist... But now with Team Kanohi and their game project lynched, we're all feeling like there's a sword hanging over our heads.
Any reason given? Not that they have to give one, it's still their property to do what they want with it. I would keep an eye on them and if they somehow in the future come out with something very similar, I hope there are good records of the past years of work and discussion. Since it was going to be free and not for profit, not really a case for lost income, but there must be some laws to protect people working in good faith with a trademark knowingly who get their ideas stolen FOR profit. If that happens.
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Any reason given? Not that they have to give one, it's still their property to do what they want with it. I would keep an eye on them and if they somehow in the future come out with something very similar, I hope there are good records of the past years of work and discussion. Since it was going to be free and not for profit, not really a case for lost income, but there must be some laws to protect people working in good faith with a trademark knowingly who get their ideas stolen FOR profit. If that happens.
No reasons given. And up until the cease and desist, the team working on the project was in good standing with LEGO.
Keep in mind, there currently isn't any existing LEGO Bionicle theme. No official merchandise is being sold. There exist literally not a single official ongoing Bionicle project from LEGO (as far as the public is aware). And it has been like that since the cancellation of Bionicle G2 back in 2015.
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I’m packing up to move soon, so I will try and get everything together and take some pics.
I would certainly be interested.
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As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.
I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.
I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.
They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.
though sadly a chinese brand, sluban is decent quality with mostly original sets
don't think they have any technic-focused stuff, though -
No reasons given. And up until the cease and desist, the team working on the project was in good standing with LEGO.
Keep in mind, there currently isn't any existing LEGO Bionicle theme. No official merchandise is being sold. There exist literally not a single official ongoing Bionicle project from LEGO (as far as the public is aware). And it has been like that since the cancellation of Bionicle G2 back in 2015.
That's even more why it feels like someone new in the company stepping in and questioning why there isn't something in play officially if there's interest in freeware/open source. Someone who talked to the lawyers first to make sure no right were signed away yet. That may be very pessimistic and conspiratorial, but if there isn't any reason to stop someone else's work on something, why would they send one? I don't know a lot about copyrights and trademarks, but I do think there is a point where if you aren't using an asset and others are interested, you shouldn't be able to just hold it under lock and key and do nothing with it. I think patents are like that, you have like 20 years or something protected to do something, and then it's open(?) Again, I'm not sure.
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There was a big ambitious project called "Masks of Power" which was going to be a full 3D action platformer. It looked truly amazing for a fan project, certainly better than anything LEGO has done for Bionicle.
The team had been working on the project for eight years. In that time they've had multiple talks with officials from LEGO, who seemed to be fine with it (especially since Bionicle has been dead for 10 years). LEGO featured the project on their official podcast, and even allowed for a Steam release, so long as it remained free and none profit.
We were going to get the first demo of that game a few months from now. But two weeks ago LEGO sent a cease and desist, and the project is dead.
There are several large, ambitious projects in the works by Bionicle fans, a number of them animation projects, one of which I'm part of as 3D artist... But now with Team Kanohi and their game project lynched, we're all feeling like there's a sword hanging over our heads.
How odd that investing your time and passion into a corporately owned IP would go wrong!
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How odd that investing your time and passion into a corporately owned IP would go wrong!
The fans certainly did more to keep Bionicle alive than the corporation that claims they own it.
Hell, even the original writing team cared about Bionicle more than LEGO did.
